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NBA DFS Preview – First Look (1/5)

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Every morning on FTNDaily, we will have a comprehensive first look article at that day’s NBA DFS slate. This will be your go-to destination for NBA game environments, fantasy-relevant situations to monitor, a quick look at the top-priced players across the industry, and some stats to get you started with the slate.

Looking for an edge in your NBA DFS contests? Our NBA package includes a state-of-the-art LineupEDGE Optimizeradvanced DvP and On/Off tools, player projection models, and more to consistently vault you to the top of the NBA leaderboards in your DFS contests.

We have 11 games on Wednesday’s main slate, so let’s dive in.

Consensus Vegas odds are derived from FTNBets Vegas Odds Board.

 

 

NBA Vegas Data for January 5 | NBA DFS First Look

Detroit Pistons @ Charlotte Hornets

CHA -9.5, total: 227.5
Pace: DET (10th), CHA (1st)

Situations to monitor:

Philadelphia 76ers @ Orlando Magic

PHI -8, total: 210.5
Pace: PHI (29th), ORL (17th)

Situations to monitor:

Houston Rockets @ Washington Wizards

WAS -7, total: 224.5
Pace: HOU (4th), WAS (23rd)

Situations to monitor:

San Antonio Spurs @ Boston Celtics

BOS -7.5, total: 221.5
Pace: SAS (3rd), BOS (21st)

Situations to monitor:

Brooklyn Nets @ Indiana Pacers

BKN -7.5, total: 218.5
Pace: BKN (7th), IND (24th)

Situations to monitor:

Golden State Warriors @ Dallas Mavericks

GSW -5.5, total: 211.5
Pace: GSW (13th), DAL (30th)

Situations to monitor:

Toronto Raptors @ Milwaukee Bucks

MIL -8, total: 225.5
Pace: TOR (26th), MIL (9th)

Situations to monitor:

Oklahoma City Thunder @ Minnesota Timberwolves

MIN -8, total: 213.5
Pace: OKC (16th), MIN (6th)

Situations to monitor:

Utah Jazz @ Denver Nuggets

UTA -5.5, total: 222.0
Pace: UTA (12th), DEN (25th)

Situations to monitor:

Miami Heat @ Portland Trail Blazers

POR -1, total: 216.5
Pace: MIA (27th), POR (18th)

Situations to monitor:

Atlanta Hawks @ Sacramento Kings

SAC -1, total: 229.5
Pace: ATL (19th), SAC (8th)

Situations to monitor:

Stats to Know | NBA DFS First Look

Below are three noteworthy stats to assist you in starting your NBA DFS research for Wednesday.

Last season with Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving on the court together (202.3 minutes), Durant led the trio with a 29.4% usage rate

Irving trailed Durant with a 23.5% usage rate while Harden took the biggest hit, seeing only an 18.4% usage rate, though he averaged 1.28 DraftKings points per minute, the highest clip of the three. Harden also saw a 39.8% assist rate, operating as the primary facilitator while Irving and Durant were the offensive catalysts. With so much ambiguity ahead of Irving’s first game on Wednesday, taking a wait-and-see approach may be your best bet with Harden and Durant priced up.

No player has seen more minutes with both Shake Milton and Tyrese Maxey off the court this season than Furkan Korkmaz (156.1)

With both guards out, Korkmaz should once again move into the starting lineup and in this scenario, he’s proven to be an asset. In those 156.1 minutes this season, he’s averaged 0.93 DraftKings points per minute with a 24.1% usage rate, trailing only Tobias Harris (25.4%) and Joel Embiid (39.2%).

With both CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard off the floor this season, Anfernee Simons has posted a 31.5% usage rate

He’s averaged 1.00 DraftKings points per minute in that scenario and is fresh off of a massive 41-point performance last game with these two guards absent. Adding a 22.5% assist rate and averaging 24.77 points and 4.74 assists per-36-minutes in this case, Simons comes in as one of the best lower mid-tier plays on the slate.

NBA Value Plays | NBA DFS First Look

For the top value plays on the slate, check out the Cheat Sheets for our analysts’ exposures and the NBA Optimizer for the best point-per-dollar plays.

 

 

Quick Look at Tonight’s NBA Slate | NBA DFS First Look

The top-priced players on the NBA DFS slate at hand are listed below for DraftKings, FanDuel and SuperDraft. For SuperDraft, these are going to be the players without scoring multipliers (if any) or those with the lowest multipliers.

Top DraftKings NBA DFS Plays | NBA DFS First Look

  1. Nikola Jokic ($12,000)
  2. Giannis Antetokounmpo ($11,600)
  3. Joel Embiid ($11,200)
  4. James Harden ($11,100)
  5. Stephen Curry ($10,900)

Top FanDuel NBA DFS Plays | NBA DFS First Look

  1. Giannis Antetokounmpo ($11,600)
  2. Nikola Jokic ($11,400)
  3. James Harden ($11,200)
  4. Kevin Durant ($11,000)
  5. Joel Embiid ($10,800)

Top SuperDraft NBA DFS Plays | NBA DFS First Look

  1. Nikola Jokic (1x)
  2. Giannis Antetokounmpo (1x)
  3. Joel Embiid (1x)
  4. Kevin Durant (1x)
  5. Luka Doncic (1x)

With Wednesday’s slate covered, let’s take a look back at who had success on Tuesday’s slate and how we can apply that to improve our process going forward.

Last Night’s GPP Performances | NBA DFS First Look

Below is a summary of how the slate last night went on FanDuel and DraftKings. One great feature of the FTNDaily NBA optimizer is the ability to backtest the slates and study the results to apply for future slates, exactly what we will do here. The highest overall scoring player from each site is bolded in the lineup.

DraftKings GPP Results | NBA DFS First Look

Below is the winning lineup from Tuesday’s $400k Fadeaway ($100k to first):

Total: 337.75

FanDuel GPP Results | NBA DFS First Look

Below is the winning lineup from Tuesday’s $20k Tue NBA Shot ($5k to first):

Total: 357.6

Tuesday’s slate was a mess. Just about all of the chalk were massive misses, as Tre Jones, Devin Vassell, LeBron James and Domantas Sabonis ended with floor games and found themselves absent from the best lineups. Instead, it was the Cleveland Cavaliers who occupied most of the space in the optimals, as the DraftKings winner had both Kevin Love and Jarrett Allen, while the FanDuel winner had four total Cavs in their lineup.

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